Supporters of Cliven Bundy rally against the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. Photograph: Daniel Hernandez

The morning began with hundreds of protesters joined in prayer, singing and in recitation of the pledge of allegiance. By the afternoon it had escalated into a militant standoff with federal rangers, who would surrender citing "grave concern" for public safety.

Cliven Bundy, the last remaining cattleman in southern Nevada, mobilized hundreds of sympathizers on Saturday to his "range war" in Bunkerville, Nevada, after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rounded-up nearly 400 of his cows which were grazing on protected land.

For 20 years Bundy, the 68-year-old patriarch of a family of 14, has defied federal regulators by refusing to pay grazing fees and ignoring court orders to relocate his herd, insisting he has a "preemptive" right because his Mormon ancestors worked the land decades before the BLM was established.

"We definitely don't recognize [the BLM director's] jurisdiction or authority, his arresting power or policing power in any way," Bundy reminded his supporters.

The heavily armed crowd rallied under a banner that read "Liberty Freedom For God We Stand". Camouflaged militiamen stood at attention, communicating with earpieces. Most had signs, many of which chided "government thugs".

In interviews, Bundy had used the language of the "sovereign citizen" movement as a rallying call, beckoning passionate support from members of the Oath Keepers, the White Mountain Militia and the Praetorian Guard.

Wielding a sign that read, "Obama, no more Wacos", one man said: "I studied what happened at Waco and I've seen the way they burned those people out of their church. I'm not going to allow that to happen again."

The legacy of that deadly standoff – in which the FBI sieged a religious group's compound and 76 people died in a fire – loomed heavy in the desert air and on multiple occasions members of the Bundy clan warned the situation "could turn into that".

Despite such fears, Bundy remained on the offensive. A BLM announcement that the round-up was suspended failed to placate him. Behind a guard of militia, Bundy suggested his followers block a nearby interstate and demand the immediate release of all livestock.

"We're about ready to take the country over with force!" Bundy said.

A tense, hour-long standoff then ensued at the mouth of Gold Butte, the preserve where the cattle were corralled.

Militiamen took position on a highway overpass, offering cover as horse-mounted wranglers led protesters to face off against heavily equipped BLM rangers and snipers.

Cliven Bundy, his wife and son Ammon survey the scene of the protest. Photograph: Daniel Hernandez/Joseph Langdon

The crowd converged on the gate to Gold Butte, prompting BLM rangers to warn over loudspeakers that they were prepared to use tear gas.

Moments later, Deputy Chief Tom Roberts, of Las Vegas Metro, defused the situation by delivering the announcement that Cliven Bundy's cattle would be returned within 30 minutes. Responding to the Ammon Bundy's demand that the BLM stand down, Roberts said: "I'm getting them out of here. That's why I'm here."

Like something out of a spaghetti western, the dustup had already seen several climaxes before its finale: cows lassoed by government wranglers, women knocked to the ground and men shot with stun guns.

And it all came to a head because of the reclusive desert tortoise.

Although Bundy is in arrears for $1m in grazing fees, the BLM didn't move in on his cattle until he herded them onto Gold Butte, the endangered reptile's protected habitat. The deployment of heavily armed rangers and restrictions of protests to a "first amendment zone" escalated tensions, made headlines, and attracted the condemnation of the governor.

A protester aims his weapon from a bridge next to the Bureau of Land Management's base camp. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/Reuters

The first physical confrontation took place soon after, when Bundy's son was arrested while filming the operation. The firebrand rancher then issued a call to arms.

"They have cattle and now they have one of my boys," he wrote in a terse press release. "Range War begins tomorrow at Bundy ranch at 9.30am. We going to get the job done!"

Bundy later told FoxNews.com: "This is a lot bigger deal than just my cows. It's a statement for freedom and liberty and the Constitution."

David Damore, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas political science professor, told the Guardian: "This goes back to the days of the Sagebrush Rebellion, where essentially the idea is that 'this is our land, not the federal government's land.’"

"The federal government owns 85% of Nevada," Damore added. "It's an ongoing fight. The related issue is that you have a great ability on the part of these folks to overlook the reality of how much the federal government subsidized Nevada in terms of big projects – the Hoover Dam, the mining subsidies. It's a welfare cowboy mindset."

Protesters gather at the Bureau of Land Management base camp. Photograph: Joseph Langdon

William Rowley, an professor of western agricultural history at the University of Nevada-Reno, partially attributed Bundy's politics to Mormonism's "strong devotion to local institutions and to seeing a threat from outside forces … the conservation movement and the establishment of land management agencies brought the federal government a lot closer to their lives."

Although the standoff ended peacefully on Saturday, Bundy and BLM will continue fighting over his $1m in unpaid grazing fees.

The agency has announced that it will pursue the matter "administratively and judicially", but Roger Taylor, a former district director for the BLM, told Reuters that Saturday's capitulation "will make it difficult getting those cattle off the land and getting Bundy in compliance with regulations".

His analysis neatly evokes a question that literally hung over the protest on Saturday.

"Has the West been won?" the banner read. "Or has the FIGHT just begun!"